I've been doing the same 17 mile loop every other day for about 5 months. I'm up to 65 rides. I'm lucky enough to live somewhere where I have smooth asphalt the entire way with no stoplights or stop signs (or any interruptions) for the entire route, so it's easy to track my time and progress.
When I started I had very little experience with road bikes so I was slow at first. I recorded my time every time I went out. My first ride was about 70 minutes, and every ride after that I saw small incremental improvements.
The problem is this, here I am five months later and my last 10 rides were literally almost exactly the same time plus or minus about 20 seconds (down to 54 minutes now). I'm not exaggerating ether, the times are literally almost exactly the same every time....and keep in mind that every time I go on a ride I push myself as hard as I can, so clearly I've hit a wall.
I understand that there could be improvements with a better bike, aerobars, different clothing etc., but I'm not worried about that right now. My question is how do I improve my cardiovascular capabilities and power output if everytime I go out I push myself to the limit but there is no more progress? Would longer rides help? Hitting the gym and doing leg exercises? Something else? There's got to be something. The whole reason I went on so many rides was because I saw improvements every time and now that I'm not seeing those improvements I'm starting to lose interest...so any advice would be appreciated.
When I started I had very little experience with road bikes so I was slow at first. I recorded my time every time I went out. My first ride was about 70 minutes, and every ride after that I saw small incremental improvements.
The problem is this, here I am five months later and my last 10 rides were literally almost exactly the same time plus or minus about 20 seconds (down to 54 minutes now). I'm not exaggerating ether, the times are literally almost exactly the same every time....and keep in mind that every time I go on a ride I push myself as hard as I can, so clearly I've hit a wall.
I understand that there could be improvements with a better bike, aerobars, different clothing etc., but I'm not worried about that right now. My question is how do I improve my cardiovascular capabilities and power output if everytime I go out I push myself to the limit but there is no more progress? Would longer rides help? Hitting the gym and doing leg exercises? Something else? There's got to be something. The whole reason I went on so many rides was because I saw improvements every time and now that I'm not seeing those improvements I'm starting to lose interest...so any advice would be appreciated.